They Can Buy the Billboard. They Can't Buy Your Hometown.

I hear some version of this from law firm owners all the time.

A huge firm enters their market, starts buying billboards, shows up all over TV, and seemingly overnight is spending more on advertising than most local firms could ever justify.

The immediate reaction is usually, "How am I supposed to compete with that?"

If you're trying to compete the same way they are, that's a fair question. There will always be someone willing to spend more on ads, buy the bigger sponsorship, or put their face on another billboard.

But you don't have to play their game.

A national firm can enter your market tomorrow. They can't recreate the ten or twenty years you've spent becoming part of it.

They don't know the local organizations you know. They haven't built relationships with people in the community, supported the events their families attend, or spent years earning referrals from other professionals in town.

They can buy attention. Being local is something you have to earn.

Alex Limontes understands that.

Alex owns Hurst Limontes in Indianapolis and has practiced law for nearly 20 years. He originally built a large part of his practice serving the local Hispanic community, and he knew pretty early that simply advertising to that community wasn't going to be enough.

People wanted to see him.

They wanted to talk to an attorney in their own language, ask questions, and know that the firm was actually there.

So he showed up.

Alex has spent more than 15 years participating in community events, working with local organizations, and finding ways for the firm to become part of Indianapolis instead of simply advertising in it.

And that strategy has grown with the firm.

Today, Hurst Limontes has worked with organizations as large as the Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Fever. But one of my favorite examples Alex shared had nothing to do with a massive professional sports sponsorship.

It was youth baseball.

You can sponsor a local league for around $1,000 and get your firm's banner at the field. And while plenty of businesses stop there, Alex doesn’t.

He talked about geofencing inexpensive social ads around those same baseball fields during the season. Now a parent is sitting at their kid's game, scrolling through their phone, and sees an ad from the same firm whose banner is hanging across the field.

More importantly, that firm is supporting something they actually care about: their kids.

That's a much smarter way to think about sponsorships.

Writing the check gets you access. What you do with that access is the strategy.

I've learned the same thing sponsoring conferences. If I pay for the booth, show up the morning of the event, stand behind a table for two days, and go home, I can't really blame the conference when nothing comes from it.

Nobody sees the Array logo on a sign and suddenly decides they need a new marketing agency.

You have to work it before you get there, while you're there, and after everyone goes home.

Alex and I get into this in more detail on the podcast, along with how his firm approaches community involvement, local sponsorships, podcasting, and competing with much larger firms.

There's another reason I think all of this matters more now.

For years, law firm marketing became increasingly digital. Build the website. Publish content. Run ads. Rank in Google.

Those things still matter, but search is changing.

Google and AI have a lot more information available to understand whether you're actually the firm you claim to be. They're not limited to what you publish on your own website. Local press, sponsorships, organizations, events, partnerships, and other third-party mentions all help create a much bigger picture of who you are and where you have authority.

In a weird way, technology is making some of the old-school stuff matter again.

That's also why I don't think your community involvement, PR, content, search strategy, and advertising should live in completely separate boxes.

A sponsorship can create content.

Community involvement can create PR opportunities.

PR can strengthen what people find when they search for you.

And the reputation you're building offline can support how your firm shows up online.

If a huge firm just entered your market, I wouldn't start by asking how you're going to match their ad budget.

I'd look closer to home.

Where are you already known? What communities do you genuinely understand? Which relationships have you spent years building that someone entering your city tomorrow simply doesn't have?

That's your advantage.

Don't abandon it trying to become the firm that just moved in.

Get better at being the firm that's already there.

Until next time,
Kevin

A few other places where we share ideas, conversations, and resources: